When the Miami Dolphins released their first depth chart of the preseason last week, few things really stood out. There weren’t many surprises. One of the things that might have been, though, was how the depth chart read at punt returner.

There was Davone Bess, the Dolphins’ punt returner a season ago.

There was Clyde Gates, Miami’s fourth-round draft pick who was selected for his speed.

And there was Phillip Livas, the undrafted rookie from Louisiana Tech.

But there was no Reggie Bush, who has returned four punts for touchdowns during his five-year pro career. Bush’s absence from the depth chart at punt returner might have caught some fans off guard, but should it have?
After all, outside of the 2008 season, when he averaged 13.5 yards on 20 returns, Bush has never averaged more than 7.7 yards per punt return. Bess, meanwhile, basically averaged that in his least productive season as a returner.

Now, granted, Bess has yet to return his first NFL punt for a touchdown. And Bush has done that four times. On the surface, you’d think that Bush throughout this pro career was the more productive punt return man, right? Well, think again.

So looking at that, it’s clear that Bush hasn’t been the superior return man to Bess (with the exception of one season). In fact, Bess has the better career punt return average, and he has been the more consistent punt returner.

It’s clear that Bush has been the better big-play return man, but keep in mind he hasn’t returned a punt for a touchdown since 2008. Since then, he has dealt with numerous injuries. It’s fair to wonder whether he can be the kind of explosive return man he has been at times in his career.

Nonetheless, Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said last week that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Bush returning punts. And indeed, Bush fielded some punts today during practice, while Livas sat out with a hamstring issue (Sparano after practice described Livas as day-to-day).

Asked whether Bush might return punts on Friday night against Carolina, Sparano said, “I am still trying to sort out the two young guys [Gates and Livas] in my head here a little bit. You know they both did some good things but Gates really didn’t have a chance with any punts in the game where Livas obviously did … But we wanted [Bush] to catch some today because down the road that’s something that, I mentioned before, we could ask him to do that.”

Of course, given what he’s done to this point in his career, Bush wouldn’t be a bad option if the Dolphins chose to have him field punts. But he might not be the team’s best option – or even as good of an option as some observers seem to believe. It’s clear the Dolphins want Bush to successfully fit into the offense first, before they try him on special teams.

Bat,
I’m embarrassed to say, since I have a daughter, I’ve seen all the Twilight films even though I smoke myself into delirium before the movie starts. I’m the dude howling laughing when every one else is crying. I also have had to endure I Carly and other nickolodean hoochie shows and through out all of my torments, I still feel more manly than MikeE for watching Idol. A student of mine once blurted out in class when the girls were talking Twilight, a vampire movie without blood is like a porn without sex. That was about the funniest thing I ever heard a kid say

Son,
The good news is my kids are getting the hang out of hitting sliders and sinkers. I swear I can throw 40 mph and the ball dances to the plate. My problem back in my teen years was hitting batters. I would strike out 5 in a row, then hit 3 and get yanked

Payaso,
I pitched, played first mainly, was a pretty decent lefty shortstop, but as I got older I loved the outfield. Funny how that works out. As a kid outfield is where they put the ones they don’t want to get injured but as I got older it was where the action was and where I wanted to be.

Derek,
LOL at your clown scare. Dude, you don’t know how many people I know are scared of clowns. I figured you’d pop one with an AR-15 or something. I always hated little girls in dresses every since the Shining

Son,
I can throw some mean junk with a wiffle ball but damn my arm hurts after a bit. I do some pretty cool stuff in my class when I’m not blogging and we set up obstacles in the room and I showed the students how to throw a curve ball around an object with a pingpong ball and hit a target. The kids were amazed. I swear I was getting 8 feet of lateral movement

I’ve decided that since Matt Moore showed signs of life, and nothing beyond being a backup is expected of him as Sparano has already dismissed the idea of open competition, that we should drop the “M” and become the HDS once more …Luckliy, we still have the old stationery and business cards …lol

I’m late to this party. Most of us are aware of these stats. The point with having Bush on PRs is the ‘chance’ for the big play. Bess may break one someday. Bush can do it twice in a game. Not that it always happens because it doesn’t but he has the skills to make it happen.

Bess is a 3rd/4th gear player. Doesn’t have a 5th gear. Bush does.

I see Bush as a guy who will return punts in spots. Like when we pin a team inside their 20 and we know there will be a lot of field for a PR. That’s when you put Bush out there.

Deep in our own end I have no problem with the sure hands of Bess. Maybe Gates or someone else gets a shot here and there. Bess is consistent with making the right decisions on punts. Screw that up and you can turn a game for the worse.

Ken,
3rd base is brutal. I always wanted to play but with the whole crossover junk it wasn’t a good fit. Once in junior high I left my glove at the house and wore a buddy of my’s right-handed mitt playing short. I would catch the ball, toss in in the air, discard my glove, and throw to first with my left.

I thought this was funny. I coerced my son into letting me see a minute of the game so I didn’t have to go back to another room. They were interviewing sanchez. He said, who is that faG, he looks gayer than Brady

Walker, that’s pretty cool stuff. Nowadays the kids know ping pong balls only for Beer pong. My daughters friends made her a pretty nice table top for her when she turned 21. I find ping pong balls all over the damn house if we’ve be away or out long. LOL

MikeE,
I was just busting your chops bro, I just can’t do Idol but I’ll eat some quiche. They pretty much call them breakfast casseroles these days so you don’t feel like your gobbling down a d!ck

Son,
That’s funny man. My daughter has this Kaplunk (sp?) game and all it is, is a cup with ping-pong balls that makes a sound when you hit them. I have to admit I’ve hit some amazing shots but then I got to thinking, they’re training these kids early. LOL

“Not much Mike E. Seems a little more peaceful on here now than earlier in the day”.

Ken It has something to do with markey not being around, I have no problem with his exhuberent homerism, but his wild overreactions to anything even remotely negative about Henne usually sets things off …lol

You’d have to admit Omar threw some fuel on the fire too this morning. Tough things for some to hear, especially if they’re true, and I assume that they are. Not that I want to open than can of worms now, so I won’t say what Omar wrote.

Bat, I disagree. I believe a fair competition is on but it’s not been publicly stated. The coaches don’t want Moore to think what he did Friday night is good enough and it’s not, but they still show confidence in Henne.

That pushes Moore to play above and beyond and it’s still Henne’s job to lose. That’s really what it is, it’s Henne’s job to lose. Not necessarily a 50/50 open competition. But it’s still a competition. If Moore plays better than Henne and he doesn’t start there are going to be rumblings and pressure.

Moore is scrappy. He reminds me a bit of Fiedler. Same size, same skill set, good enough to be in the NFL but not enough skill to dominate. They have to play within themselves and they need support. So does Henne in my opinion even though he has the bigger arm.

We need a team offense, not one set up to rely on a franchise QB because we don’t have one yet.

A player I wasn’t relying on too much that could make a big difference in our offense this year is Roberto Wallace. This guy is Marshall light but a little faster.

True story. I was dating my wife at the time, and her brother had moved to Jupiter FLA. He took us to this restaurant I think may have been in Stewart (not sure) near the water, the place may have been called “The Lighthouse”. They had this desert called “The Lighthouse”, and it was described as a something like a tower of chocolate with fudge and vanilla etc. The dessert comes, and I’ll be damned if the friggin’ “Lighthouse” doesn’t look like big ‘ol d!ck.

So the waiter brings it, and I say “I ain’t eating that, NO WAY!!!”. He asks me if I would like something else, and I said ABSOLUTELY!!!

Therefore, it wasn’t so far fetched for me to think up the previously aforementioned CD. LOL !

“Not much Mike E. Seems a little more peaceful on here now than earlier in the day”.

Ken It has something to do with markey not being around, I have no problem with his exhuberent homerism, but his wild overreactions to anything even remotely negative about Henne usually sets things off …lol
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LOL @ Bat. He has gone over the top. To actually wish injury to BMarsh because he thinks it would help Henne. That is when I lost it and just had to sign off before I said something that would get me banned.

I think the FO and the coaches may be giving Henne a little benefit of the doubt for his work over the offseason. Henne didn’t have to put together those informal practices, and if you think about it Henne was risking a lot participating in them. If he had been injured, he would have lost his contract. Moore wasn’t part of that for Miami.

I’m just going by what Sparano said. He was very adamant that Moore would be getting NO snaps with the first team ..I do agree, however, that pressure could mount if Henne does not clearly establish himself above Moore and this would force Sparano’s hand.

Do you know any reason why they’re not having Sheets field kickoffs? I wanted to see him get mixed in more. I know he got a bunch of carries Friday, but with that joke of an offensive line you couldn’t have gained 5 yards with a f**king wheat harvester. Sheets is still my dark horse in this year’s offense, but if he doesn’t get a chance to contribute on ST I don’t think he’ll make the 53.

I think the only way Moore wins the job is if Henne completely implodes. I don’t think there is an open competition. I truly believe that Moore was signed because there would be no expectation of a competition and this would give Henne a degree of confidence after all the Orton speculation.

“Derek..LOL ..there is much wisdom in your words …BTW it would be my pleasure to spend a few hours with you solving the world’s problems ..lol
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Bat…

Just rattled off like 100 rounds out of this M-4 full auto a Broward Deputy brought in to have trigger work done on… And I thought about “Fixing the world” somewhere around 30 rounds in… Sorry for the long post… But I would start here….

I believe you will follow my thoughts just fine on this….

“To solve a great number of our Nations problems, start by shutting down every single Monolith of Higher Education that insists on teaching students WHAT to think rather then HOW to think”.

And, fire every tenured professor who cannot without hesitation explain why Socialism and Communism have been models of economic failure over the past 75 years. Then after firing the failures… rehire others who are well qualified and pay them in direct correlation to their students GPA’s and ability to explain in a single paragraph what is successful and what is unsustainable in a Nations economy. Even if they intend to be engineers or underwater BB stackers….

Once you have a base of young people to teach “HOW” to think, start by teaching them a truth we all should be aware of. There are those who insist, “everyone hates America”… But the truth is that a great many people love America. Some hate us because they want all of the “Comforts, Security and Assets provided to those who apply themselves in a Free, Rich and Enterprising society…. WITHOUT being wanting to do the work, offer the freedom and provide a safe, non-governmentally interfered with place for an Enterprising Society to flourish.

We need people to know what motivates them, what is their core dynamics. For some its Duty, Honor and Country… For others its Rights, Liberty and Integrity… and for others its Frauds, Fads and Fetishes (#3 being a deep club as you are certainly aware)

Most of those who do hate Americans, do so because they have been taught to, be it in Tehran, Iran, Harvard Law, a Mud Hut or an Ivy League Journalism school; places where… Once again, People are taught WHAT to think rather then HOW to think.

Get that far and we are on our way to recovery, because the rest or what needs done is on the other side of ignorance. And for many, that ignorance strat with what you believe to be true because someone told you that is the way it is. Taking the iniciative to THINK is the first step…

I’m good, Walker. I haven’t got much time anymore. Got a new job that’s going well, but it means no time for seeing the Mob during the day, and my baby boy decides our evening schedule. I’m off to bed in a few minutes, actually, but I’m trying to catch up with you guys as we move into the season.

Phinagain, Sheets did return a kick Friday night for 17 yards. He didn’t impress me. 9-18 rushing and 2-5 receiving. The OL was non-existant in the run game so maybe that’s not fair. But Sheets did nothing special in any phase. He actually looked a bit lethargic to me.

Give it a few more weeks and 3 PS games to see what bubble players pop.

Phinagain get that lil’ feller a 22 jersey for the season.
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Son:

I was explaining to my 8 year old son today that we had to buy a 22 jersey to replace his 23 jersey he wore last year. He became totally upset today when I told him Ronnie was no longer on the team. He wants me to buy him a new 23 jersey anyways. I have to give my son credit for being loyal.

Jets are still going to be a good team but they regressed this year as far as their roster goes… Jenkins being lost permanently is a loss, the veteran presence of Jason Taylor is somewhat of a loss (not big), and I think losing Braylond Edwards and Cotchery will hurt them more than anything… I don’t think Santonio Holmes is number 1 receiver and Plaxico is going to be not even close to what he once was… Also LT won’t have a year like he did last year I feel which was solid…. Plus sanchez is crap!

Of course Sanchez isn’t as bad as Henne… and Rex Ryan although a fat turd, is a better coach than smorano!

Sanchezee had something like 15 INTs just flat-out dropped by opposing defenders, including K. Langford. He won’t get that lucky again. Also, Henne didn’t have any dropped by opposing defenders, and it’s unlikely he won’t be that unlucky again. In the end, no matter how bad Henne is, Sanchezee will be worse in 2011.

OMAR KELLY was unsuccessful at achieving his childhood dream to become a super hero, so he figured he'd do the next best thing and become a journalist who fights against injustice, and searches for truth. After being bored to death reporting news and covering politics, he switched to sports.
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IZZY GOULD joined the Sun Sentinel in Feb. 2012 as a Senior Sports Reporter on the Miami Dolphins beat. He came to South Florida fresh off covering the University of Alabama football program, including its 2011 national championship team. More